Ronald Johnson's papers are held at the Kenneth Spencer Research Collection at the University of Kansas Libraries. His books are published in the U.S. by Flood Editions. Send all inquiries to peter [at] luxhominem [dot] com.
Below is a link to the recording of “ARK 38, Ariel’s Songs to Prospero,” for Dorothy Neal, recorded with Roger Gans at KQED in San Francisco in the early 1980s. It is “constructed out of recordings of songs of the birds of eastern United States,” according to Johnson.
The sections are titled:
Of Time and Its Tree
(a bolero for one white-throated sparrow)
The Origin of Language
(homage to Harry Partch)
The Emptying of Hell
(nocturne for loon and full orchestra)
Where the Fire Takes Me
(a souza for daylit forest)
Full Fathom Five
(synthesis for slowed meadowlark & chorus)
How Feels the Fine Mesh of Space
(adagio for thrushes and woodpecker)
—from ARK, Flood Editions, 2013
Photograph by Ralph Eugene Meatyard